Means or device for the retention of bedclothes



' 1,627,008 May 1927' s. H. BARTTER MEANS OR DEVICE FOR THE RETENTION OF BEDCLOTHES Filed Nov. 17. 1926 Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

MEANS OR DEVICE FOR THE RETENTION OF BEDCLOTHES.

Application filed November 17, 1926, Serial No.

My invention relates to an improved means or device which, while allowing for freedom of movement on the part of the sleeper, will yieldingly retain the clothes in proper position over th bed, will. preventsaid clothes from becoming disarranged or untucked to the discomfort of the sleeper.

Broadly, the means or device comprises a pair of oppositely disposed, or it may be two or more pairs, of clip or retaining members each constituted by a metal plate adapted to be afiixed detachably to the angled side of a bed rail in a vertical. position, a spring-controlled slide bar carried by and vertically and slidably mounted in front of said plate, a clip consisting of two rubberfaced jaw members hingedly connected together and fixedly connected by one member to said slide bar, and means pivotally carried by the fixed clip member to effect the instantaneous grip of the clip members on to the bedclothes, or the release thereof.

In order that the said invention may be the more readily understood, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying sheet of drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the means or device shown attached to a bed rail and wire mattress, the gripping means being shown in full lines in the locked position, and in dot-and-dash lines in open position.

Figure 2 is a front View of said means or device.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view illustrative of a modified means of attaching the device to the side rail of the bedstead.

Figure t is a fragmentary view illustrative of the handling and adjusting means hereinafter referred to.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In carrying out the invention and refer ring first-t Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the means or device comprises a metal plate a of convenient length, width and thickness, provided with a convenient number of suitably spaced apart slots 1) therein for the reception of a buckled strap 0 wherewith to detachably fasten said plate a to the bed rail d of an iron bedstead in a higher or lower position in relation to the frame 6 of the wire mattress f into which is hooked the book 9 of a strap h which is affixed to the upper end of the attachment plate a and is carried down in front of and 148,861, and. in Great Britain August 14, 1926.

to the bottom of said attachment plate aaud afiixed thereto, said strap it being provided with a socket 2', or it may be sockets, positioned below the upper end of the plate a aforesaid.

Freely and slidably mounted in. and through the socket or sockets 2' is the inner arm of an inverted U-shaped slide bar 7' which extends a convenient distance down in front of that portion of the strap h which is in front of the plate a and at its lower en d is connected to a cylindrical spring 71; which by its lower end is conveniently anchored to the lower end of the attachment plate a, whilst to the front and downwardly depending arm of said slide bar j there is fixedly secured the inner member m of the clip.

To the lower end of said member m, which member m is downwardly and outwardly inclined, there is hingedly connected at 'n, the lower end of a springy curved outer member 0 of the clip, said clip members m and 0 being at their upper ends each fitted with a serrated-faced rubber pad 19. a

To the lower end of the front arm of the slide bar j there is hingedly connected the ends of the arms of a bridge-piece g which is fitted with a thumb-screw 1" adapted to be screwed in or out so as to bear, more or less, on the arcuate front face of the outer cli member 0 aforesaid. I

In use, the bridge-piece g is pushed downwards to release pressure on the front member 0 of the clip, with the result that said bridge-piece g and front member 0 instantly fall by gravity into the position shown in dot-and-dash lines in Figure 1, leaving the back member on of the clip clear. The bedclothes 3 are then pulled down to in front of and below the rubber pad p of the inner clip member m, and the bridge-piece g is then pulled upwards, and with it the front clip member 0 to engage the rubber pad p of said member m with the bedclothes s aforesaid, as shown in full lines in Figure 1 of the drawings.

In the above manner are the bedclothes s gripped and retained in position over the bedwit-h a give-ancbtake vertical up and down and sideways movement of the slide bar j provided for by the spring-control k and the socket 2' of the strap h.

If desired, and to assist in the quick release or opening of the clip, the hinged connection thereof may be spring-controlled.

a gripping member including a The radius of the a-reuate portion of the trout member 0 of the clip is eccentric to the swing of said front member so that there obtains a perfect grip by simply pulling up the bridge-piece g as far as it will conveniently go without straining, and the thumb-screw 7" whose point may engage in the one or the other (it a series of indenta tions 0* in the arcnate face of the front member 0 of the clip, serves partly as a handle means and partly as an adjusting means should dill'erent thicknesses o't bedel'othes or wear of spring necessitate adjustment.

Further, the top end 6 of the front clip member 0 is carried inwards beyond the opposing faces of the rubber pads 29 so as to push the bedclothes out of the perpendieular, thereby giving an increased grip on said clothes by forming a kink in the same.

In many bedsteads titted with wire springs or box springs, the hook-ended portion of the strap 72 is not al' solu-tely necessary, the device being atiixed to the bed rail (Z by means at a hook-ended plate u extending rpeirdicularly from the back of the attachment plate a, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings, a set-screw r in the hook end in of the extension plate a engaging under the upper limb of the bed rail (Z, preventing swinging forward of the device, the mattress resting on the extension plate, the book-ended portion of the strap being retained as an extra securing means should such: be necessary.

Further, a spring washer may be inter- )osed between the head of the thumb-screw and the bridge-piece Q to maintain said thi-unb-screw tight, or. as shown in Figur 4-, the thumb-screw r may be replaced by means of a spring-controlled plunger at.

I cliaiimiz 1. Bedclothes retention means comprising attachment plate adapted to'be detachably connected to the side rail of a bedstead, a guide member carried by the attachment plate, a springcontrolled slide bar slidably guided on said guide men'iber, and resilient gripping jaws carried by said spring-controlled slide bar.

2. Bedclothes retention means comprising one or more pairs of gripping niemb each constituted by an attachment plate adapted to be detaehably atfixed to the side rail of a bedstead in a vertical position in relation memes thereto, a spring-controlled slide bar carried by and freely and vertically and slidably mounted in trout of the attachment plate, a clip consisting of two rubl'ieriaced jaw members hingedly connected together and fixedly connected by one member to said slide bar, and means pivotally carried by the fixed clip member to efiPect the instantaneous grip or the release of said grip.

3.. lledclothes retention means as claimed by claim 2', characterized in that the attachment plate is detachably attired to the bed rail. by means of a. buckled strap passed through slots in said attachment plate and around said bed rail, and to the wire mattress by means ot a hook-ended strap attired to said attachment plate, and that one arm of the slide bar is slidable in a socket or sockets carried by the strap aforesaid and is connected by a spring to the lower end of the attachment plate, and that the other arm of the slide bar has atiixed thereto the inner member of the clip, and the outer member of the clip is of arouate tori'nation tor the engagement therewith of the end of a thumb-screw or equivalent device carried by a bridgepiece pivotally mounted on the lower end ot the outer arm of the slide bar at'oresaid.

4t. lledclothes retention means con'iprising a gripping member including an attachment plate provided with a hook-ended plate c tending perpendicularly from the back ol said attachment plate tor directly atlirring said attachment plate to the bed rail, and means carried by the l1ool -end of said bookended plate to engage under the upper edge of the bed rail, and means carried by said attachment plate for engaging the bedclothes.

lledel othes retei'ition means comprising a. gripping member including a member adapted to be detaehably iii-zed to the side rail ot a bedstead, a guide carried by said member. a bedcletbes gri iiping member having a sliding engagement with said guide and provided with re. 'lient jaw members tor engaging the bed-clothes. and a spring plate and to anchored to said attachment said bedclotbes gripping member for yield ingly pulling the same downwardly.

In testimony whereot I have alilxed my signature hereto this 27th day of October 1926.

STEPHEN HENRY BARTTER. 

